CLOTH-MINDED
HIGH-STYLE, HANDMADE CLOTH DIAPERS ARE ALL THE RAGE FOR ECO-FRIENDLY MOMS WHO JUST CAN'T PIN DOWN THEIR LOVE OF CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION
I have a beautiful Paige Novick handbag; it retailed for over $400. I wore it with my DKNY black wedge espadrilles and Katayone Adeli sparkle skirt—to the grocery store.
Urban living rocked: married, no kids, two incomes. I bought great stuff and loved every minute of it. Now, as rural as it gets with two kids and one income, I'm getting ready to put on my latest haute couture ensemble: organic velour, dip-dyed aqua to fuschia, topped with some hand knit merino wool. Only it's not my get-up, it's my baby's—my baby's diapers to be exact.
Initially it was motherhood, the great activist maker, that led me to choose cloth
diapering my babies. Not crowding landfills with tons of my baby's poo, plastic and
wood-pulp was an easy sell. I really liked the idea of saving Mother Earth, but there
was just no way I was going to use plain old white sheets and plastic pants. As the
saying goes: old habits die hard. And this girl still loves nice things—and she definitely
still loves to shop. However, thanks to my new role and a now, much-slimmer wallet,
over-the-top shopping for myself just stopped making sense. All I do now is do for my
children.
Enter: The world of diaper art. Leave it to those crafty work-at-home moms (WAHM) to
create a cottage industry that so effectively feeds the cravings of both the
environmentalist and the on-a-budget consumer in me. These are not your nana's
diapers: crafted from organic cotton, hemp or velour and designed with decadent,
delicious prints, the designer diapers available now will set the playground tongues
a-wagging before you even hit the swing-set.
They say that you never totally kick an addiction, you just transfer it. So my days of
stalking the must-have heels of the season, works of art so stunning—and
exorbitant—
you could display them on your mantle, may be over, but the nappie collection is just
beginning. Luckily, I'm not alone in my madness; there's even a name for moms like
me who just can't get enough of the cloth couture: Hyenas; because we stalk diapers
mercilessly!
Kate Savidan, a WAHM from Virginia, refuses to have the “diaper genie sausage-maker”
or the disposable diapers that feed it, invade her home. Her only real splurges
nowadays are these exquisite cloth diapers she hunts down for her almost- two-year-
old. For Claire Sparklin, another WAHM with three kiddies in Michigan, shopping was a
form of entertainment before her children arrived. She's now turned those urges to
rabid diaper art consumption. Needless to say, the ease and immediate gratification of
Internet shopping has gone a long way in appeasing her consumerist pangs.
Diaper art aside, Claire says that "knowing a WAHM created something just for my baby with style and grace" is pretty irresistible. And that feeling is reciprocated by the moms who craft these dapper diapies for your baby's bum. Shan Jennings, of Harleyz Dipeez (www.wahmarama.com), got into diaper making because she wasn't happy with what was out there and calls her sewing perfectionism a "sickness.” The in-demand Shan is often saddened when it takes just a day or two to sell a diaper that she put her heart and soul and a lot of time into making; sometimes the impending departure of her handmade cloth gems keeps her up at night.
On behalf of Hyenas everywhere, we thank you, Shan, for your masterful works of art that not only grace the tushies of our own precious gems, but allow us to indulge in guilt-free shopping sprees. Bottoms up!—Michele O'Brien
Michele OBrien is the mother of two rockin' little girls and wife to one hip husband. She's currently a student of nursing and midwifery, a former Bloomberg TV exec and is usually pretty exhausted.
CALLING ALL HYENAS!
GET YOUR STALK ON AT SOME OF TFG's FAVORITE CLOTH DIAPER SITES
